How Did President Trump Appear on His ABC Interview?

On Wednesday night, Donald Trump sat down for his first network television interview since his swearing-in. President Donald Trump: The White House Interview had the President talking to David Muir in an hour-long special that showed Trump just as crowd-obsessed, angry, and combative as recent news reports have made it seem.

From the very beginning, Trump was at it with his patented hyperbole, claiming that, despite questions about his temperament, he can “be the most Presidential person ever, other than the great Abe Lincoln.” But all that Presidential-ness, he said, might get in the way of him doing his job.

On Wednesday night, Donald Trump sat down for his first network television interview since his swearing-in. President Donald Trump: The White House Interview had the President talking to David Muir in an hour-long special that showed Trump just as crowd-obsessed, angry, and combative as recent news reports have made it seem.

From the very beginning, Trump was at it with his patented hyperbole, claiming that, despite questions about his temperament, he can “be the most Presidential person ever, other than the great Abe Lincoln.” But all that Presidential-ness, he said, might get in the way of him doing his job.

As for torture, Trump said that his defense secretary was against it, and he didn’t know where his own CIA head stood. However, he did say that he talked to some anonymous intelligence agents who were convinced that waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation measures worked. Naturally, he provided no details on who these people were.

When the conversation turned to immigration, Trump grew even more combative and angry than he had previously been. When Muir asked if banning immigration from majority-Muslim countries might create more “anger” towards the U.S., the President turned dark and despondent.

“There’s plenty of anger right now,” he said. “How can you have more? […] The world is a mess. The world is as angry as it gets.”